Elsevier

World Neurosurgery

Volume 140, August 2020, Pages e195-e202
World Neurosurgery

Original Article
Early Report on the Impact of COVID-19 Outbreak in Neurosurgical Practice Among Members of the Latin American Federation of Neurosurgical Societies

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wneu.2020.04.226Get rights and content

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe economic consequences by local governmental measures to contain the outbreak. We provide insight on the impact that health care restriction has made on neurosurgical activity in Latin Iberoamerica.

Methods

We performed an internet-based survey among presidents and members of the societies of the Latin American Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (FLANC). We blindly analyzed information regarding local conditions and their impact on neurosurgical praxis using SPSS software.

Results

Information came from 21 countries. Sixteen society presidents reported having suspended regular activities and deferring local scheduled congresses, 14 reported mandatory isolation by government, and 4 instituted a telemedicine project. Four-hundred eighty-six colleagues, mean age 49 years, reported a mean 79% reduction in their neurosurgical praxis. Seventy-six percent of neurosurgeons have savings to self-support for 3–6 months if restrictions are long lasting.

Conclusions

Stopping activities among societies of the FLANC, together with a drop of 79% of neurosurgical praxis, adds to deficits in provider’s protection equipment and increasing demand for attention in the health care systems, representing a huge financial risk to their sustainability. Neurosurgeons should be involved in local policies to protect health and economy. Telemedicine represents an excellent solution, avoiding another pandemic of severe diseases across all-specialties as nonessential care can turn essential if left untreated. Financial support and ethics code review is needed to battle this new disease, designated the occupational disease of the decade, that continues to scrag the health care system. Times of crisis are times of great opportunities for humanity to evolve.

Key words

COVID-19 outbreak
Financial risk
FLANC
Neurosurgeons
Survey
Telemedicine

Abbreviations and Acronyms

CI
Confidence interval
COVID-19
Coronavirus (formerly SARS-CoV-2)
FLANC
Latin American Federation of Neurosurgical Societies
SD
Standard deviation
WHO
World Health Organization

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Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare that the article content was composed in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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